William
Shakespeare didn’t write that, exactly — he suggested a more drastic
prescription — but he never watched an American election, either.

If
he had, he might be astonished to see the hordes of attorneys now
pouring into Missouri, preparing to do legal battle over your right to
vote and to have that vote counted.

Democrats are leading the
barrister parade: More than 1,000 election-trained lawyers will be in
the state watching the polls Tuesday.

“This has been an enormous
effort, a well-funded, well-organized, top-notch (legal) effort by the
Obama campaign,” said Pat McInerney, one of the coordinators of the
Democrats’ voter-defense efforts.

Republicans say they will have lawyers ready, too, although they will not provide exact numbers.

“Republicans
in Missouri, because of our experience in past elections, have been
prepared … to respond to election law issues,” said Thor Hearne, a St.
Louis lawyer helping the GOP get ready for Nov. 4.

All sides say
they want to avoid major, last-minute lawsuits like the controversial
2000 federal case in St. Louis that extended voting hours.

But
they do expect smaller legal skirmishes next week. Polling places might
have the wrong ballots — or not enough. Electioneering near polling
places can be a problem. Access for those with disabilities is also a
concern.

The biggest worry?

Missouri, like other states, is
using a statewide voter database that some fear will incorrectly drop
registered voters from the rolls.

The recommended remedy for
those who face such a mistake is casting a provisional ballot that can
be counted later. Many groups, though, call that unacceptable: They
claim provisionals are usually ignored or disqualified.

They urge voters whose status is unclear to instead work out the problem at the polls and cast a regular ballot.

Why all the attention? Because the presidential race for Missouri’s 11 electoral votes is so close.

“I
think all you have to do is remember Florida in the year 2000,” said
former Sen. Jack Danforth, who is helping the McCain campaign supervise
voter access and registrations across the country. “Five hundred
some-odd votes in one state can make a difference. And then realize
there are 10 battleground states, and then just look at the numbers.”

Outside experts disagree over what awaits voters next week.

In
a recent report the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University
Law School, working with Common Cause and the Verified Voting
Foundation, said Missouri is among the top six states in preparedness
for Election Day.

“In
the state of Missouri, there is much work to be done to create uniform
standards for the conduct of elections,” a study by a group called
FairVote concluded.

“Many localities in Missouri are not prepared
to meet the challenge of administering the general election on November
4th,” wrote the Advancement Project, a liberal “voter protection” group.

Election officials dispute those findings.

“Am
I concerned? Absolutely,” said Missouri Secretary of State Robin
Carnahan, who supervises the state’s balloting process. “Do I think
(local election authorities) are well-prepared and working hard? Yes,
they are.”

But partisans on both sides say Missouri’s troubled electoral history makes a trouble-free Election Day unlikely:

•The
Justice Department is pursuing a long-running case to force a purge of
the state’s voter rolls; more than 400,000 of the state’s registered
voters are considered “inactive.”

•Republicans continue to push for a photo voter ID in Missouri (it is not currently required).

“I
am very concerned about the integrity of the upcoming election,” Gov.
Matt Blunt said in a statement late last week. “We want to ensure that
this voter roll is current and accurate and that every eligible voter
is properly registered.”

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, a
Democrat: “Every two years you have Republican charges of some type of
illegal conduct … right before an election.”

Some Democrats are
especially angry at Hearne, whom they accuse of active voter
suppression in the past, a charge he strongly denies.

“We have no
intention of suppressing votes,” Danforth said. “We have suggested that
each presidential campaign create … bipartisan teams to look out for
both fraud and any kind of suppression … We have been stiffed” by the
Obama campaign.

Lawyers for Republicans and Democrats may not be
the only legal observers in the state Tuesday. At least one outside
group says it has 10,000 lawyers ready across the nation to investigate
voter fraud and intimidation.

Some Democrats and Republicans, though, say fears of voter registration fraud and voter suppression may be overblown.

“There’s
nothing wrong with our courts having an overseeing role in terms of the
laws of our democracy being implemented fairly,” said Sen. Claire
McCaskill, a key Barack Obama supporter. “But I … think this is a lot
of hoo-haw about nothing. I don’t think we’re going to end up having
lawyers fighting each other on Election Day.”